This invention relates generally to electroosmotic pumps and, particularly, to such pumps fabricated in silicon using semiconductor fabrication techniques.
Electroosmotic pumps use electric fields to pump a fluid. In one application, they may be fabricated using semiconductor fabrication techniques. They then may be applied to the cooling of integrated circuits, such as microprocessors.
For example, an integrated circuit electroosmotic pump may be operated as a separate unit to cool an integrated circuit. Alternatively, the electroosmotic pump may be formed integrally with the integrated circuit to be cooled. Because the electroosmotic pumps, fabricated in silicon, have an extremely small form factor, they may be effective at cooling relatively small devices, such as semiconductor integrated circuits.
Thus, there is a need for better ways to form electroosmotic pumps using semiconductor fabrication techniques.